One
goal of Egypt's 2010 union inspired Tahrir Square protests was
fulfilled during the December, 2011 parliamentary elections. Nearly 65% of the nation's fifty million eligible voters turned out to vote. Turnout for the June 16 and 17, 2012 presidential election dropped to an estimated 15%* according to local and press observers. What happened?

Three factors contributed to the exponential decline in voting. Egypt's courts took leading candidates off of the final presidential ballot. The disappeared candidates had the support of 68% of the electorate according to a major preelection poll in early May. Egyptian courts also disqualified
one third of the recently elected parliament. Just a day before the
election, military commander Mohamed Hussein Tantawi announced that the
constitution had been annexed.
This was a nice way of saying that the military was assuming most of
the powers of the presidency, leaving the newly elected chief executive
with little to do.

The entire foundation of the election vanished
in plain sight. There was no point in voting. The preelection actions by
the courts and military represented the most fundamental form of
election fraud by making the elections meaningless.

Why vote?

The vast majority of eligible voters either abstained or went to the polls as part of the Mobteloon
movement to deliberately deface and void ballots. The Egyptian
revolution has moved from massive public protests leading to the end of
the Mubarak regime to a fixed presidential election orchestrated by the
armed forces and courts.

Roots of the Revolution

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The
January 2010 protests at Tahrir Square captured the attention of Egypt,
the Middle East, and the world. Key demands included an end to the
presidency of Hosni Mubarak, a transition to democratic rule, and
recognition of independent trade unions. The core faction of the protests and leadership of the peaceful revolution came from unofficial Egyptian unions. This cadre was ignored by the press in the United States and Europe. Nevertheless, the group exists
and has been there for more than a decade working for higher wages and
dignity in the workplace. The outlawed unions helped achieve a key goal,
the removal of Mubarak, and opened a window for change in the nation of
over 100 million.

The Next Hurdle

As the
2011 parliamentary elections progressed, it was apparent that the front
line of the revolution, the independent unions, would be
underrepresented in elections for parliament and the presidency. The
simple truth is that parties representing elements of the old regime and
the Moslem Brotherhood had a huge head start based on existing
organizations and structure. But this advantage failed to materialize.

The nationwide poll from mid-May (above) showed that a moderate Islamist,
Abdel --Men'em Abul --Fotouh, was leading with a 32% preference.
Abul-Fotouh had resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood prior to entering
the race. Independent Amr Moussa was a close second at 28%. Hamdeen
Sabahi of the Nassarist Dignity Party was at 8% in the poll.

The established powers had to do something. Their candidates, Shafiq and Morsi, were doing poorly with a combined 14% .

At the last minute, the courts removed three candidates from the final ballot. Only Shafiq and Morsi remained on the ballot after the military and courts made their move.

I
seemed that the manipulation by the military and courts had saved the
day for the prevailing powers. The winner would either be a former
Mubarak Prime Minister or an official of the Muslim Brotherhood, a party known to cooperate with governments is supposedly opposed.

But
when the election was over, the two remaining candidates got only seven
million votes, a 15% turnout. Compared to the 65% turnout in December,
2011, Egyptian voters made a clear statement to the world that Egyptians
had no respect for the election. They voted by not voting.